Wax model (moulage) of epithelioma of the vulva; the model is made of oil-painted beeswax with talc, built up on a plywood board with gauze around the edges; the model shows a vulva with a cancer at the left side; the model is accompanied by a descriptive label which lists typed information on pape…
Wax model (moulage) of epithelioma of the vulva; the model is made of oil-painted beeswax with talc, built up on a plywood board with gauze around the edges; the model shows a vulva with a cancer at the left side; the model is accompanied by a descriptive label which lists typed information on paper about the condition seen in the wax model; this information is framed by a cut cardboard mat; the model is painted to depict true colour
Number Of Parts
2
Part Names
a - model
b - label
Provenance
Models made by Marjorie Winslow; they were commissioned as teaching aids by Dr. Robertson of the Queen’s University Faculty of Medicine, who also helped with the anatomical details.
Printed on label: "Epithelioma of Vulva // Cancer of the vulva is the third commonest type of genital // cancer. It occurs at the average age of 60 years and may appear // on the labia, near the clitoris, or in the vestibule. The // initial lesion is small and gives no suggestion of the dread dis- // ease which has taken hold. The ulcerated lesion is raised from // the surface and bleeds easily. If there is a preceding leuco- // plakis, there is much itching and soreness but arising de novo, // the lesion may cause little pain, hence is often neglected until // too late. It spreads by local infiltration and also, deeply, // through the lymphatics to the inguinal glands. A diagnosis is // made by biopsy and microscopic examination and the lesion must // be differentiated from syphilitic ulcers, lympho-granuloma, // granuloma, etc. The treatment is vulvectomy and wide excision of inguinal glands."
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-F6-1
Length
20.8 cm
Width
17.4 cm
Depth
6.4 cm
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Above dimensions are of model; label dimensions are 17.0 cm x 15.0 cm
Condition Remarks
March 2023 - no change from previous condition
(undated condition report) - The model shows no chips, cracks or breaks in the wax; the surface is undamaged; the paper and cardboard of the label are brittle and acidic; there are no tears or missing sections; the typing is fully legible
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Article
Museum website
Reference Comments
Andrea Terry, “The Malleability of Meaning: Marjorie Winslow’s Moulages and Twentieth-Century Moulage Production in Canada,” The Museum of Health Care at Kingston, 2007. https://issuu.com/museumofhealthcare/docs/terry__2007_
Brockville Museum Collection, “Doll – 984.100.01,” accessed June 7th, 2022. http://brockville.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/COLLECTIONS/WEB_DETAIL_REP/SISN%20536?sessionsearch
Research Facts
Marjorie Winslow was by no means only a wax sculptor, but created art, medical and otherwise, in many different mediums. She was born in Montreal in 1907, and studied there at the Museum of Fine Arts and L’École des Beaux Arts. She lived in Kingston with her husband from 1939 to 1946, and helped with art classes at Queen’s University. She learned moulage from an artist brought from Johns Hopkins by Dr. Robertson, and would attend operations at Kingston General Hospital, reproducing what she had seen there from memory and working with Dr. Robertson to get the proportions and colours just right. She later moved back to Montreal and worked as an artist with famous neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield, helping map the human brain as he explored it. Later in life, Winslow lived in Brockville, Ontario, and upon her death in 1998, the Friends of the Brockville Museum mounted an art show to celebrate her life and work, featuring pieces of art borrowed from several people in the town who owned some of her work. In addition to her moulages at the Museum of Health Care, some of her Christmas cards are housed in the collections of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.